24 <strong>Irish</strong> <strong>American</strong> <strong>News</strong> “We’ve Always Been Green!” <strong>September</strong> <strong>2011</strong>Lots of mini-type reviews thismonth. As usual, they have backed upon the desk. The result? We bring youonly the best of the best, as usual.Ceol Sidhe features Steve Cooney,Charlie Lennon, and Michael Hyneson guitar, fiddle and concertina,respectively. There are 19 cuts onthe album, each more brilliant thanthe other. Believe it or not, there areonly two sets of reels! This album isadults playing <strong>Irish</strong> music. Perfectly.Not 305mph, like so many of today’schildren. If you love <strong>Irish</strong> traditionalmusic, this is the perfect instrumentalalbum. We know Copperplate inLondon has it.Fiddle & Flute is by BlayneChastain, Natalie Padilla, and PeterRomero. Another all-instrumentaltreat from this trio of flute, fiddle,and piano. Denver, Colorado? Whoknew? A great album from reallytasty musicians.The Two Tap Trio is Nora Rendellon vocals and flute, Brian Milleron guitar, and Nathan Gourley onfiddle. The album’s title is A Nightat the Fair. What a stunning piece ofbusiness from these Minnesota-basedmusicians. We get several albums ayear that we just keep listening to,and this is one of them. This groupis getting a lot of work and it is nothard to see why. Terrific.The Morning Star is an absolutelystunning all-instrumental album fromMarla Fibish and Jimmy Crowley. Onthe album, Marla plays mandolinand mandola. Jimmy is on bouzouki,dordan, mandolin, and mandocello.Apparently, the creative aim of thealbum was to let you hear what anumber of the great tunes of Celticmusic would sound like with onlytwo stringed instruments being perfectlyplayed. Or something. We arenever sure about what musicians aretrying to express artistically in an album,and we quite frankly don’t care.What we do care about is whether thealbum is fun to listen to, and playedwell. This album is both. These aretwo really superior musicians flexingtheir artistic muscles and givingus a rare treat. And, it is different.With just the two instruments, themelodies really stand out, and aregorgeous. A thorough winner.Cathal Clohessy and EamonnCostello are out with Bosca Ceoil &Fiddle. We know this one is also availablefrom Copperplate in London, asit was they who brought it to ourattention. We assume our pal, JackBaker at Rampant Lion would alsobe able to get it. This all-instrumentaltreat of 14 cuts is only for the dyedin-the-wool,honest-to-heavens tradfan. But if that describes you, thisis a great piece of business that youwill love. A lot of the tunes are raretreats to be recorded and recordedperfectly. We cannot urge this albumupon the real trad fan highly enough.A must-have.We feel that the next two albumswe’re going to tell you about shouldbe considered under one umbrella.Full Set is a brilliant-AND WEMEAN BRILLIANT-new group outof Ireland. The album is Notes atLiberty. It is vocal/instrumental at thehighest level of the music. Sean Mc-Carthy is on uilleann pipes, MichaelHarrison on fiddle, Janine Redmondon button accordion, Teresa Horganwith flute and vocals, Eamonn Moloneyon bodhran and Andrew Meaneyon guitar. The two new groups thathave really blown us out of the waterlately are Outside Track, and nowFull Set. Stunning. It can be arguedthat Outside Track is the hottestthing in traditional music right now.Full Set will soon join them. They’reyoung, gifted, and understanding ofthe music far beyond their years. Aswe grow older, it becomes increasinglyeasy to dislike people like this.Unless, they’re this good. And, theyare this good. Simultaneous with therelease of Notes at Liberty is piperSean McCarthy’s Halcyon Days. Ofcourse, this features Sean playinghis pipes and low whistles. He isjoined by Fergal Scahill and ConalEarly on guitars. What a brilliantsolo and first album this is. We don’tknow how young Sean is. We don’twant to even contemplate that. Whatdoes keep us up at night is how hegot this good this young. HalcyonDays establishes Sean McCarthy inthat small, but select group of thevery best world-class uilleann pipers.Stunning. Did we already say that?No matter. It is.Hope you are tuning in everyMonday night at 8 o’clock for IrelandTonight, WDCB 90.9 FM and www.wdcb.org for our weekly show of real<strong>Irish</strong> Music. And, visit www.irelandtonight.com.Traditional.I sat waiting patiently at the CreamCity Feis in front of the results board. Iwent there to dance only one dance, myreel. Reel was the last dance I neededto get a first in to get into the next level,which is Preliminary Championship. Itried not to get too excited. Then a waveof panic hit me. I started thinking ofsome dancers I know that have beenone dance away from PC for over ayear. I had danced the best I could andthat was all I could do. I felt a surge ofexcitement as I watched them hang upthe results at the stage that I had danced.I was afraid to look. First I need to tellyou that I am blind without my glassesand I wasn’t wearing them that day. Isquinted as hard as I could. OMG itwas! Right next to the first place boxwas Deirdre Kozicki! I couldn’t believeit. I finally made it into PC. I was sohappy. I had been in Prizewinner fora long time. I’ve been in it longer thanI’ve been writing this column.I also have my National results. Thecompetition was held at the OprylandHotel. It is a pretty cool hotel. It feelslike your outside but your inside. It wasa long day. I did a girls ceili in the morning.I felt my team did pretty well. Inthe afternoon my team danced our choreography.This is what we practicedfor the most. I was the most nervousfor this. I knew I couldn’t focus on mynerves or I would forget my steps. OnceI get on stage I really don’t think aboutanything else but the dance. I thinkabout all the critiques and adjustmentsmy teachers have told me in the last 2months of practice. The music soundsin my ears and my body goes into“auto dance mode.” We all agreed thatthis was the best choreography we haddanced. Then I had to dance my mixedceili, which is with both boys and girls.We did really well at that one, too. I wasdone dancing. I was happy I got to takemy wig off! I checked the recall board.My choreography and mixed ceiliboth recalled. Then it was results time.The teachers had given us all cowboyhats to decorate to wear at results. Mychoreography placed 3rd. I was a littledisappointed because we had practicedso hard and we had danced so well. Mymixed ceili got a 4th and I was happywith that because that was the first timeI danced on a mixed ceili team. Overall,it was a great trip and I had a great timewith everyone at Nationals.There’s a new book of the Liffy Riverseries by Brenna Briggs. It is a book of4 mini mysteries <strong>Irish</strong> dance style. Myfavorite on is The Case of the ClumsyClowns. It wasn’t a suspenseful mysterybut a funny one. It was hilarious. Iwould recommend that one if you wantto laugh. The Werewolves of Ossory isa good history mystery. It put an oldIreland myth in a modern <strong>Irish</strong> dancersetting. The Mystery of the MissingNovice was the hardest mystery to solve.I would read that one for a brainteaser.And last but not least, The Mystery of theTemporary Trophy is centered mostly on<strong>Irish</strong> dance. It was a very good plot. Ienjoyed all the stories very much. Thisbook has a mystery for everyone in thefamily. I highly recommend it.Well as my grandma would say “theparty’s over!” School has started. I’msad summer is over, but I’m excitedfor the school year ahead. I’m excitedabout being Student Council Presidentand being in 8th grade. I hope everyonehas a great school and dance year.
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2011</strong> <strong>Irish</strong> <strong>American</strong> <strong>News</strong> “We’ve Always Been Green!” 25The Deficit & ImmigrationAs I compose these words thebig news on all fronts is relatingto the downgrading of the USbond rating. The previous day,I listened to an expert on theradio state that, “there is a onein three chance of a double-diprecession.” And for the remainderof the segment all of the focuswas on the reasons for the one inthree becoming a reality. Thenthe thought struck me, what happensto the 66 and two third %and the factors that exist that arepresent and can be used to enablethe country to avoid a double-diprecession.We have the ability to influencewhat way this whole mess is goingto turn out and it brings to mindthe question of the wise man tohis students seeking wisdom. Heasked, “If you have two opposingforces inside of you fighting fordominance which one is going towin?” The students debated thequestion for hours and came upwith all sorts of arguments as towhich one would emerge the winner.Finally, the wise man calledfor silence and said, the answer isnot complicated; whichever oneyou feed the most is the one whowill win.The fact remains that the biggestdeficit we face is not one ofresources but one of imagination.This lack of imagination is oneof the key factors that preventus from moving out of fear tosearch and put our talents andenergy into developing the twothirdsreason for not falling intoa “double-dip” recession.This country has the talent andskills to solve our economic woes,the questions which remain to beseen are this; do our elected officialshave what it takes to stop thebickering and start putting theirenergy into building a sustainablestructure. Can our electedfolks from both sides of the aislefollow the advice of the Greekphilosophers; namely, “virtue isin the middle.” Aristotle defined avirtue as a balance point betweena deficiency and an excess of atrait. The point of greatest virtuelies not in the exact middle, butat a golden mean sometimescloser to one extreme than theother. For example, confidence isthe mean between undervaluingoneself and vanity, and generosityis the mean between miserlinessand extravagance. It requirescommon sense reasoning, notnecessarily extreme intelligenceto find this golden mean.What we need most from ourelected officials to solve our woeswith the economy, immigrationand whatever else needs attentionis a group of people who arepledged to working together tofinding the golden mean.Should you have any comments,questions or suggestions,please feel free to contact me at:sliabhanoir@yahoo.com or 773-282-8445Murph’s Pub Crawl Planned for Sept 24thMike Murphy was amember of the Larkinand Moran Brothersfrom 2000 until hislife was cut short at32 in 2008. His familyand friends help set upThe Michael J. MurphyMusic ScholarshipFund (a 501(c)3 nonprofitorganization).Murph taught at theMusic School in OakLawn and encouragedand inspired people ofall ages to learn how to play aninstrument and love music.The Scholarship Fund hasbeen created with the mission toprovide music related lessons andinstruments to children from familiesthat do not have the financialmeans to provide this opportunity.The organization’s goal is to carryon Murph’s legacy and make a differencein a life by giving them thegift of music.Back in 2009, the first PubCrawl was held in support of thefirst Murph’s Gift Of Music benefit.It was a blast and raised a lotof money for the fund. They areworking on the schedule whichwill published by press time. Theyhave secured a bus again, so leavethe driving to them or meet up atany pub along the crawl.Please contact Dan Larkinat larkinbros@aol.com or 773-960-3892 to sign up. They havehad a great response but are wellprepared to handle all who wantto attend. A $10 dollar donationhelps defray costs of the bus andshirt.They will be playing sessionsat all pubs along the way so anymusician who wants to join in, justbring your instrument or voices!
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